Penitentiary Era-1790 To 1825 Mass Prison Analysis

Many people are in prison today because of unjust sentencing legislation such as mandatory sentencing laws, which “... often make no distinction between, say, armed

Prison reform was a viable aspect of the Reform Movements in the 1800s. Reformers wanted to evidently punish prisoners but they also wanted to make sure they maintained a sense of humanity. They did this by reconstructing prison systems, seeking ways to treat the mentally ill and more. Document A highlights the importance of good treatment to prisoners in order for them to be rescued and eventually work to become viable members of society. This document

Prison is an institution for the confinement of persons convicted of criminal offenses. Throughout history, most societies have built places in which to hold persons accused of criminal acts pending some form of trial. The idea of confining persons after a trial as punishment for their crimes is relatively new.

To understand the radical nature of the penitentiary movement, it is first essential to understand the ideology to which the penitentiary system was a reply. In ages past, crime was viewed largely within the paradigm of retribution. For example, the classical theorist of criminology Cesare Beccaria viewed the decision to commit or not commit a crime as a purely rational calculus. This meant that punishments had to be fairly severe as a deterrent. Criminals were not seen as fundamentally different from you or I, and 'reform' was accomplished solely by a rational calculus of pain versus pleasure. Beccaria believed "individuals possess freewill, rational manner and manipulability 名ith the right punishment or threat the criminal justice system can control the freewilled and

St Helena Island is a former penal settlement located in Moreton Bay (Queensland). In operation between 1865 and 1933, it is the earliest attempt to create a reformative prison in colonial Australia. The prison complex was essentially self-sufficient and aimed to provide inmates with the opportunity for self-improvement and rehabilitation.

When it comes to mass incarceration, the United States is at the top of the list when it comes to the highest prison numbers in the world. When I first heard of mass incarceration, I did not know much about it. I would have also never compared it to the Jim crow laws that existed into the early and mid 1900s. Michelle Alexander does a good Job outlining the parallels between Jim crow laws and current day mass incarceration. In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander analyzes the thirteenth amendment. The thirteenth amendment states “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." (The

The overall belief of the Penitentiary was that most prisoners would benefit from the incarceration experience. The penitentiary concept would remove felony offenders from normal society, and through penitence, pastoral counseling, solitude, and reasonable discipline, antisocial behaviors would be corrected. However, the system became overcrowded; prisoners had to be doubled up in their cells, thus removing the concept of solitude. Allegations of abuse and brutality arose and by the end of the Civil War, the penitentiary’s population had grown to 1,117 prisoners (Siegel & Bartollas, 2011).

Prison System Criminals have been around for as long as humans have been on Earth. And as long as criminals have existed, as have various forms of punishments used to deal with such criminals. The favorite form of punishment now a days is the use prisons. However, many are advocating against the prison system and they have reason to.

Throughout the years, the use of imprisonment has varied, along with its influences of society. It is thought that although prisons have been around since the thirteenth century, prisons as we know them now to be have only been around for the last three centuries. The first uses of prisons were not seen as a form of punishment instead they were used as a way of making people do something. People would be held in prison until they paid their debts, or awaiting trial and then leading up to their sentence. McGowen (1995) suggests that from the early 1700s ‘bridewells’ a house of correction have existed, however at that time being used merely for vagrants and drunks. At the end of the sixteenth century there was a shift in punishment to imprisonment, along with this came a new, more humane idea of reform. Criminals would spend their days of prison carrying out hard labour. However after the American Revolution, imprisonment took a step back and there was another change. There was mass overcrowding within the prison service and although the death penalty was still being used it was a symbol of the power of the state. Therefore, an everyday way of dealing with offenders would be transportation to the colonies, being either Australia or America.

In the late 1700’s, the Quakers built the Walnut Street Jail, and later, the Eastern State Penitentiary, both of which operated with solitary confinement of the prisoners to focus on penitence. This often drove prisoners mad and made them unfit to be released into society. Reformers have since changed prison practices to allow inmates to socialize,

We can date the United States criminal justice policies all the way back to the 17th Century. Although it is nothing compared to what we have today, there have been improvements along the way. One of the major reform needed in our corrections system are the war on drugs and overcrowded prison. The history of corrections in the U.S. has been seen through four major eras known as the Penitentiary, Reformatory, Reintegration, and Retributive Era. Each era has tried to explore the best way to deal with people who have broken the law. Based on the ideas of each era, we’ll explore which reform needs to be implemented.

In 1895 once the newly designed prisons were built it saw the published Gladstone report on which it stated ‘we start from the principle that prison treatment should have as its primary and concurrent objects deterrence and reformation’. This report was then led into the 1898 prison act which saw the unifying of the ‘local and convict prison systems, introduced remission of sentence and restricted the use of corporal punishment. An emphasis on rehabilitation was a consistent part of prisons policy alongside other objectives’ (Newburn 2007).

Twentieth Century prisons have been dominated by three types. The first type is the so called “big house.” Big houses were six teared cells that house 2500 men. The second type is known as the medical model. Under the medical model inmates were subject to psychological assessments and diagnosis. The main treatments were academic and vocational training, along with therapeutic counseling. The third type was a power vacuum that was filled with inmate gang violence and interracial hatred (Bohm & Haley, 2012).

Prison development dates all the way back to the early Roman times and even then there were forms of punishment for criminals. In today’s society we have come a long way from the Roman times with the way prisons are ran and punishments are enforced. With this development, there are two types of prison systems – Pennsylvania and Auburn. These systems have helped form the prison system today and the impact and involvement of prison labor over time.

The corrections system in America began mostly with the arrival of William Penn and his “Great Law.” This was back in 1682; the “Great Law” was based on humane principals and also focused on hard labor as a punishment. The corrections system really began to take hold in North America in the late 1700’s with the idea’s and philosophy of Beccaria, Bentham, and Howard. These philosophies were based on the thought that prisoners could be treated and reformed back into society. This hard labor was used as an alternative to other cruel forms of punishments that were used in earlier times such as physical abuse or even brutal death.